Easy Listening in the Belgian State Archives....

It was about time, but I spent the whole day in the archive today. I left the US two weeks ago today and I'm as settled as I can be. It felt good to be back among documents and books and to have a purpose to my day. Yes, there will be plenty of travel and time off -- the girlfriend booked her ticket for the first week in November! -- but it's time to get to work. So, I figured I'd share two things this post: the commute and my first day of work. (Neither are too exciting, but made an impression on me. Like I said not all of this will be crazy tales of me escaping EuroPol or making a fool of myself in French....)

It takes me no longer to walk from my place near Place Louise to the archive just behind the fine arts museum than it did to walk fro my car in T-Lot to Wood Hall when I was back at UConn. The major difference is that instead of walking by whatever is festering in the lake outside the Chemistry building, I take my life into my heads crossing the street and walk past some of the most beautiful spots in Brussels.

Walking in Brussels is easy enough. In fact, it's a pretty walkable city. (Your feet get used to the cobble stones after a while, but I'm interested to see what happens in the rain and the winter....I already saw one poor woman, I think a judge or lawyer (she was wearing a robe, and in Europe often times lawyers wear robes in court) wipe out in her heals.) The major pain is the traffic. It's terrible -- evidently there was no drivers licensing until the 1960s -- and the only way -- and I mean only way -- to make it across many tough intersections is to just step out into traffic, and that includes the (wonderful) trams. If there is no light -- and not every crosswalk has a light -- you just gotta go. Place Louise is one of the most congested spots and, right now, it's under construction so that makes it worse, but enough of that.



After surviving the first 200 feet or so of my commute, it becomes something different, a little surreal even. As I head from Place Louise I pass the Palace of Justice on my left. It's huge. Bigger in area than St. Peter's in Rome (but not as beautiful.) On the right are newer offices with judges and lawyers running in and out in black robes with white cravats and something that kinda of looks like a fur scarf, but probably isn't. (Yes, ignorant American!)



Then it's a sharp right turn down Rue de la Régence and toward Place du Petit Sablon, one of the prettiest squares in the city and past Notre Dame du Sablon, one of the prettiest churches in the city. A gothic chruch from the 15th/16th century, it's not a bad thing to see at the start (and end) of the day.

Then it's down a narrow side street -- cobble stones all the way -- to the State Archives which are housed in a lovely neo-Stalinist style building.

When you walk in, there is a picture of the king, Albert II and his consort Queen Paola. The same picture graced the walls of the Belgian consulate in New York. I don't know why, but I always notice them and look for them in official buildings. I know the President's official picture is in American government offices and such, but these pictures are just different. I guess it's just part of the (generalized) American fascination with the concept (and reality) with royalty. On Sunday I went to Mass at the main cathedral here, Sts. Michel et Gudule, and at the end of mass (which was said in Dutch and French) there was the "priere pour le roi" (prayer for the king).

Now inside I went to floor -5. No, that's not 5 floors under ground, it's up. I really don't know why they use the negative sign, but they do. Anyway, today I decided to go to the library to look over a diary of a Belgian woman who lived in Brussels during the war. The diary has been edited with a lengthy introduction and takes an interested view of the war. The woman, Constance Greaffe, was of English, French, and German extraction and was partial to the *German* side during the war! Others in her family were not. One of her sisters actually housed CRB delegates and was more decidedly pro-English. Anyway, that's what's there.

The librarian does not speak English so I muddled through in my French -- and pointing -- to find out how to order up a book. Until about 11am I was the only other person in the room, but that's okay because we were listening to Belgian easy listening radio which, oddly enough, is a lot like easy listening back in the US. Actually, it's the same because it was all American, except for the ads and traffic update.

Now, I will say I don't think the librarian -- who is extraordinarily nice -- has a great deal to do day-in and day-out, so the radio, I guess, fills the void, but I did find it weird to be in a library -- there were books around me, signs to be quiet -- and be listening to music. It was doubly weird to be in a foreign country and listen to the exact same music I could hear on a light classic rock station back in CT or NY. I'll make sure to bring my iPod tomorrow, maybe some classical would suit the mood better.

What is really nice about such an easy commute is that I can come home for lunch and 1) eat at home and save some money and 2) hop on Skype to talk to the girlfriend before she heads to work in the morning.

The rest of the week will be more of the same, I'll post if something exciting goes on. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the weekend...will I attempt to leave Brussels and go to Antwerp, maybe?! I just don't know....

Into the Archives...and to the pissing fountain.

I've been in Brussels less than a week and, well, I figured it was about time to go to the archive. You know, the place I said I was going to be working to get the money and time to be here. I survived the first day. No real work, just getting registered, meeting with my archivist contact -- who isn't much older than I am -- and figuring out how the place works. Well, it seems, an archive is an archive is an archive. I have my ID card, good for a year, and client number.

The only hitchers were 1) the laminator broke while they tried to laminate my card so the place smelled of burning plastic and 2) the stuff I want to look at won't be in the database until the end of October. The records of the Comite National (the Belgian counterpart to the CRB) have just been indexed (of which I have a copy on my computer). Thankfully the people at the Belgian National Archives are very nice and know what I'm working on and gave me old-school paper slips to fill out my requests.

I puttered around, but no real work. I've decided to go slow -- very slow -- and not overwhelm myself. So, today was just to see what it's all about. The space inside is new and modern, well lit, and quiet. I think it will be a nice place to work. I don't think I they have wireless so that will probably help my productivity, but I'll certainly have to find a way to let them allow me to bring my big French-English dictionary with me. I'm getting better with French -- my tenses are a mess -- but my vocabulary still isn't strong. It'll take a while to plod through these documents.

I also have access to all the other repositories around the country, so I'll be doing some travel at some point to other places where documents may be housed. I plan on returning the end of the week to actually order up some stuff, mainly from the CRB itself since the National Archives here have some records.

So, the rest of the day. After coming home for lunch (well, I stopped at a sandwich shop and got a brie sandwich) and a brief chat with the girlfriend, I went out in search of the old CRB headquarters in Brussels. Located, according to a set of documents I brought with me, at Rue des Colonies, 66 (named in honor of the Belgian Congo, such happy times). Well, that address is nothing more than a boarded up door. No plaque, nothing, which leads me to believe I have the wrong address. Last night I came across a plaque dedicated to a member of the Belgian government who worked for the relief effort. So, there is a memorial memory here. I just have to find it for the CBR. I'll need better shoes...the cobblestones are killing my feet. Damn you Steve Madden!!

So, it was off to be a tourist. A visit to Brussels' cathedral was nice. Then to Grand Place for a beer and people watching:



That's a Kwak beer. Been around since about 1790 it's served in that funky glass. (CT, I think this is the beer you were referring to in you comment a while back.) It's potent at 8.4% but tasty. The bulb, it seems, keeps a constant stream of bubbles rushing to the top.

Then it was off to find Manneken Pis. That is the famous 1 foot tall stature of a young boy peeing. It's a de facto national symbol of Belgium. The original statue dates from 1388, but this one is from 1619 after the first one was stolen. No one really knows why this statue is, well, this statue. Some say it's modeled after a duke's son who was peeing on enemy troops, some say it's after a boy who peed on a burning fuse during a siege, etc. None the less, it's cute and the city has well over 600 costumes that it will dress petit Julien (the French name) in over the course of the year. This includes an Elvis suit. The various costumes are on display in the Musee de Ville in Grand Place.



So a day of some work and some tourism. I'm finding myself navigating the city much easier now. I know land marks and am pretty well oriented at all times. I still have yet to find a nice coffee shop where I can just chill or a bar for an evening beer. As I've said I live in a "posh" area and it's a bit touristy and/or corporate. Since I live in Saint-Gilles I'll explore it's center (or Parvis Saint-Gilles as it's known). I know there are some more bars and spots there and it has a younger vibe. I have to remember, it hasn't yet even been a week!

Tomorrow, it's to the bank for a bank account. Of the fun I'll have.

Thanks for reading!